Heretofore, a single thin plastic strip is machine applied to the tops of a number of containers arranged in pairs to secure the containers together for carrying as a single package. The plastic strip is formed from a resilient, elastomeric plastic material of substantially uniform thickness. The strip includes a plurality of apertures which are enlarged to form encircling bands. The number of encircling bands equals the number of containers to be assembled into a single multipackage. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,462,494, assigned to the assignee of the present invention, illustrates non-circular apertures formed in the plastic strip. Uniform longitudinal and lateral spacing exists between the encircling bands and convenient finger holes may be provided in the plastic strip for enabling the carrying of the assembled package as a discrete unit.
While such prior strip carriers have been found convenient and advantageous for packaging containers numbering 2, 4, 6 and 8, a package unit for a large number of containers, such as 9, 12 or 15, using a larger plastic strip to form the carrier, results in an unwieldy array of containers. Because of the leverage forces generated on the single strip by the weight of the containers when a 12-container array is carried, individual containers become loosened or dislodged from the plastic strip. The carrier strips are designed to permit easy removal of cans for consumption; however, the forces generated by a twelve-pack of containers, as is illustrated in U.S. Pat. No. 4,079,571, for example, frequently results in the release of containers by the mere act of picking up and carrying the unit.
To avoid this problem, the prior art has taught the use of an additional "belly-band" around the central region of the outside of the 12-pack in order to compensate for the forces generated during pickup and carrying. As shown in U.S. Pat. No. 4,269,308, a plastic belly-band is used in conjunction with a single plastic strip across the top of the containers. The belly-band includes a handle to permit carrying of the package unit without producing a force which would tend to dislodge any container from the plastic strip secured across the top of containers.
However, a belly-band type arrangement requires the additional cost of the plastic belly-band as well as the need for specialized, single source machinery to install the belly-band. Further, the user must remove the belly-band before removing a single container from the package. And once the band has been removed, the package integrity is destroyed and cannot be moved about without reinstating the problems previously alleviated by the belly-band.
It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide an improved carrier which eliminates the need of a separate belly-band to restrain the forces working on the containers during the action of pick up and carrying the package about.
It is yet another object of the invention to provide a 12-pack carrier which overcomes the problems of carrying forces which tend to loosen or dislodge individual containers from the package.
It is still another object of the present invention to provide a single design carrier that's adaptable for a plurality of 3, 6, 9, 12 and 15 containers, which is able to be manufactured and applied to cans without the need for completely different type of production equipment or assembly machines.
It is also an object of the present invention to provide a strip carrier for a plurality of containers, which is easily carryable without the loss of a can from the carrier.